I'm thoroughly skint this month…mainly due to parenting and the SMax is down to 30% brake pad left, so I'm wanting to find out what brake pads it needs and how to change them myself? I'm figuring it should be pretty straightforward as the brakes don't need bled and the rotors are fine so it should just be a replacement pad – but I don't know what kind or where to get them from…nor do I know what is involved in doing the job myself…I'm skint so looking for a cheap solution – I'm not looking for cheap and nasty pads, but if I can DIY the replacement then I'm happy to do so…

Anyone know where I can find an online guide of doing this please?

Thanks.

any car parts shop will have the pads, dont buy cheap and nasty, they wear out quicker and dont stop you as well
should be a 1 hour job maximum for a straightforward pad change, although make sure you are confident a cheap jhob could become a dangerous and costly mistake

I'd check the caliper bolts are 'disposable' as well – they deform when the correct torque is reached and need to be replaced.

You'll be able to price them up at Euro Car Parts and either order them from there, or try a local Motor Factors. Will probably be around £35 per axle pair. Pagid are fine for your car.

If you can't find an online guide, get youself to the library and borrow the Haynes manual (or photocopy the relevant section). Only possible difficulty is if you need a caliper wind-back tool. Other than that, pad changes are within the reach of a half-decent DIYer without specialist tools.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=buy+car+brake+pads

to be honest if your pads have another 30percent left why are you changing them now? if you've had the car from new and it's the first time you had to do anything to the brakes then look at the mileage and thats 70 percent of what you could expect to get.

now for a slight thread highjack.
what's the smax like? i'm thinking of maybe changing from the vw touran to the smax just because it's longer and may have a bit more room for kids and bikes. is it any good though?

Just get Superstar pads and whap the caliper bolts home with a big rock. They'll be sweet as…

30%? Loads of life left in them. S-Max probably has a low-pad warning light on it anyway.

If there is 30% left they should easily last till next month and probably longer, just one question how do you know there is 30% left? Don't mean to sound rude but if you don't know where to buy pads or how to change them I'm curious as to how you've arrived at the 30% figure?

If you're worried about quality just buy them from your local Ford dealer, you'll pay retail price but you'd pay that anyway if you took it to the dealer for repair.

Front pads are usually a fairly simple task in the grand scheme of things.

Personally I like fitting genuine brake pads, or better depending on vehicle and application, they do make a difference in feel, peformance and longevity.

Cheers for tha Carbon – I should have asked earlier! 😉

Nickhart – SMax is very good as a family bus…very spacious but nothing has been wasted for space (apart from the rear seats – when the fold flat you get a huge boot but loose about 3" depth from roof to floor so I have to remove wheel and saddle if I want to 'roll' the bikes in). The seats are very comfy and they have the ability to recline, there is oceans of legroom and the children don't seem to have any problems getting and staying comfy in it – saying that, we only have 1 of our own, but friends have all piled in with their kids as well (7 of us all in) and not had any problems.

Seems to be a very reliable runner, gets about 550 miles to the tank, but I'm not the lightest footed of drivers and I suspect as the fuel gauge shows just shy of 700 miles once filled to the brim, it could get very very close to that if it was driven sensibly. Servicing costs seem to be ok and service intervals seem ok as well.

Roof has space for 4 bikes fairly comfortably.

Very comfortable to drive with a very good view of the road in front and sides…we have the Titanium and the tinted windows are a real bonus as when the sun is glaring, our daughter doesn't seem bothered by it.

I really like it, I'd say it was 99% there to be my ideal car BUT as I can't get my bike in the boot without disassembly it isn't 100% – I'm going to be going for a new second-hand Berlingo when I trade the Bravo on but the wife reckons she'll be running the SMax into the ground as it is a seriously excellent car for us.

30% pad left according to the service which was done 2 months back…we are on approx. 32,000 miles so I'm figuring they'd be good until almost 40k…but as my finances don't appear to be improving (and the cars seem to be my thing!) I'm doing some research now to find out how easy it would be for me to do them…perhaps foolishly I'm assuming a car hydraulic brake works in a similar manner to a bike hydraulic brake? Obviously working with greater forces but the principle is the shame?

Both brake systems do work on the same principles, its the ABS systems that make them more complicated.

some other things that may be worth considering if you are going to do them yourself, its not just the pads you are going to have to buy, you're going to need a jack to raise the vehicle, axle stands to make sure the vehicle your potentially lying underneath is safe, there is no way on gods earth I'd use the jack that's supplied with the vehicle for anthing other than emergency wheel change. Have you got all the tools you need to complete the job? Bit out of touch nowadays but you used to need a 7mm allen key for older Ford brake calipers. You may need a brake bind back tool to 'wind' the pistons back into the calipers.

Not trying to put you off but definitely things which need considering and at the end of the day your playing with the brakes on the car which your wife and kids will be travelling in, how confident are you if this is your first time doing this kind of thing? Not trying to put doubts in your mind but food for thought…

If the Smax is like my Galaxy, and you wont have jack in it…

Sunday Wobbler – thanks for this info, this is the kind of stuff I am needing – food for thought is quite right…I'm not totally thick when it comes to a job – if I've got the right tools then I tend to do a decent job – but I don't know what is actually needed for this. Mate has quoted me £85 for the job and he is a mechanic so I reckon it's going to be that as pricing up the pads they are about £60 so another £25 for piece of mind is pretty good.

No jack but a really (un)useful bottle of fix'n'flate – utter tosh and personally I reckon should be banned from being supplied with a car – spare wheel and jack…but it does save space and improve fual consumption due to less weight…still totally useless though!

DickBarton, I'm not questioning your ability but as I said in my previous post you're going to be playing with a vital safety system of the car which will be transporting your wife and kids… If you were changing wiper blades or something equally as trivial then I'd definitely say go for it but there could be some potential serious consequences if you get this job wrong.

Get your friend to do it or ask to do it round his house/workshop with his assistance that way you'll gain some confidence and you'll know the job has been done properly as he'll check what your doing, and you may be happy doing the job yourself next time? Obviously depends on your relationship with that person though.

Your friend the mechanic will also get the parts at trade prices which is usually where some money can be saved, as well as the fact if he's doing it 'on the side' you'll save some more cash on labour charges, I often wonder where main dealers make up their labour charges from?? And I work in the industry…

Understood…I appreciate the fact it's a safety feature of the vehicle, but that wouldn't stop me from giving it a bash if I had the tools and an idea of what was to be done…saying that, I don't have the tools or have a clue on how to do it so I'm going off the idea of DIY…another reason is that if I did do this and ended up enjoying it, I'd end up having to put some garage space aside for car tools and stuff as I'd end up trying other stuff as well…I don't really haev the time or inclination for that so I'll stop it right now and get a mechanic to do it!

not S Max but we have a Galaxy, and are pleased with it at 30k miles. Pretty much the same thing. Chose over S Max as it has a significantly bigger boot – it is more square at the back with a higher roof. Preferred S Max but did the killer trial – could I get kid's 24inch bike in back without taking wheels out – S Max failed and Galaxy passed

Bigger boot also good it you do big family camping trips and the amount of cack that seems to entail – 5 of everything in our case (people, sleeping bags, chairs, pillows, bed mats, bikes etc etc)

but that wouldn't stop me from giving it a bash

thats exactly what will happen to your neighbours car when you **** with your brakes!

You know my mechanical curse and even I didn't attempt any brake work without Timmy on hand to oversee / provide the right tools (cordless impact wrench is awesome)/ They are in reality very simple, but the consequences of screwing up your bikes brakes and the cars are vastly different.

your ass wouldn't cope with prison if you got done for having faulty brakes 🙂

sunday wobbler. i appreciate you're not saying dick is rubbish but spare a thought for the people who actually do change the pads on your car. at least dick can string a sentence together and understands percentages and stuff. when my students go on work experience changing pads is a job i see them do regularly……..
jump to your own conclusions. i've maintained my cars since i was sixteen (built my first one after finishing school) and they require common sense and patience and the right tools.